I have a '74 F-100 4x4 with the 360. I am looking to supercharge it, and i was wondering if any of you know of any kits to bolt on a supercharger or if i will have to fabricate my own. Any ideas or suggestions?

 

BDS makes a kit to supercharge an FE, but it's EXPENSIVE (I know there are more companies out there, but BDS is all I've dealt with.) The reason they're so much more expensive than say a SB or BB Chevy is because nobody buys superchargers for Fords. Personally, I think I'd rather spend the money on making a good, strong, reliable N/A 390 or 410. Not to tell you what to do or shoot down your dreams, but superchargers are a PITA to deal with on a day-to-day basis and you won't be able to afford to drive it. Take the mileage a 360 gets in the first place and divide that in 1/2 or worse.

Granted, it is ALWAYS cool to see someone do something different. Hell, my friend put a 6-71 on his 400 in his 78 Ford p/u and it RIPS and runs great! It looks great (he shows it, too) and all, but it's completely worthless as a day-to-day driver because he only gets a max of 4.5 MPG. Even with 8:1 compression, he has to deal with buying the expensive gas and detonation.

Cody

 

Thanks for the help. I've had a lot of people tell me the same thing - that supercharging is a PITA and that I will end up spending more on gas that I did to build the truck.....lol; but this is my project truck and I'm starting a frame off resto. I've yet to see a supercharged ford around my area and I wanted to do something different. Once again, thanks for the help.

 

How about hanging a centrifugal SC off of it? That should work well.

If you want more options on how to build up that 360 stop by the FE forum. You may have already done that and I forgot about it though.

 

Wouldnt there be a lot to deal with on a centrifugal? It basically does the same thing as a turbo, but with a belt. Right? If you were to do that, then wouldnt you still need to do all of the normal junk involved with turbocharging a carbed engine? Just sayin it might be a little more difficult, not trying to tell you off as you probably know more than I do.

 

It's true you would need to mess with the carb. Probably enclosing it in a box would be the best solution. Even on a draw through blower, you still have to modify the carburetor if you want it to run right. For example, you need to boost reference the power valve so that it opens at the right time for the pressure of the air going into the engine, not the pressure of the air directly under the carb.

 

Yea, Thats what I was thinking. There is a guy who is running a carb'd s'charged 300 on this site, and the blower doesnt seem to be a 6-71, it looks like possible a Kenne Bell to me, Ill have to look again.

 

https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...?&albumid=2083

Heres an album of a guy running a KB on a carbed 300. This one might do decent on the milege too, Im not sure, butthat guy also has some pretty hight gears on that baby.

 

how much do those bds superchargers for a 390 fe run for? and what would be the disadvantages and advantages? would it be worth it? or would you have to run like cam 2 racing gas

 

I dont know how much it runs, but I do know that the 360 should make an excellent forced induction motor. It breathes relatively well in stock form, and has low compression. The bottom end is for all intents and purposes bulletproof in stock form as long as you dont get the revs up too high.

I dont know about the racing gas. I think that if you aftercool it enough, you should be able to run pump gas.

 

Ok, since I have one of these monsters........

BDS kit is near $3700 (if I remember right). Blower, manifold, and drive. No carbs, linkage, fuel lines. It will hurt your pocket book.

I did a piece meal with a blue thunder blower manifold, a new out of the box 6-71(did my own machine work to fit drive) and got BDS drive. I have less than half in it, including 2-600 Holleys. Lucky me, right.

Anyway, I put it on a bone stock, factory cast piston '68 390. Mild Crower cam(.531 lift) that I had laying around. It gets 6 lbs of boost and just flies in my '64 Galaxie. Granted it could use good pistons, real blower cam, etc, but it was what I had laying around and it works great. I run 93-94 oct. fuel(never race gas-yet) and it runs fine. Granted I am not racing it, or abusing it constantly, but I drive it 30miles to work occassionally during the summer. It gets decent fuel mileage(if you stay OUT of it) with 3.89 gears out back(65 mph=3000 rpm). The carbs are near box stock with only bigger squirters. Starts easy, idles fine, could use a better radiator(original one to car) and does get warm if you idle too long in summer heat. All in all, not a big issue. I run the stock original single point distributor still(found a dual point/tach drive to install come spring-which I would put an elect. conversion in).

Granted it still needs alot of "better" parts installed,but for a summer toy I like it. As money comes available I will upgrade.

As a note: you may find interference fit with blower/carbs and firewall/cowl. I know I measured it up for my '69 F100 and it would take some cutting to make it fit. The cowl just sticks out too far and the blower sits back too far. My blower is basically straight up with back of intake. Take a ruler and check out your truck, it may not fit easily. If you have a body lift, then that will help.

 

so take the 12 mpg i get and divide by 1/2..

so 12/.5 = 24mpg wow... im getting a blower...

haha... just givin you a hard time.. cuz i know you wrote in half and not by half.

 

Does any body know how much a turbo kit cost for a 360 stroker "390". I have a 351w know to experiment on so i don't screw the new engine up.